Friday, January 4, 2008

The female is receptive for a single night per year. For males this is a stressful time. What will happen during this special night?The male will approach the female giving the trill call and tail-lashing vigorously, and the female will respond with aggression towards the male. When peak receptivity occurs for the female she will engage with frequent anogenital rubbing and mouthwiping, and at this time when the male approaches the female she will not act aggressively towards him.When the male approaches the female he will sometimes sniff the flanks and the anogenital area of the female. The will groom the female before he mounts her and will continue to groom her neck once mounted . During mating the male will utter soft trills and the female is quiet except for threat calls once mating has completed.The position the male takes during mating is that his forearms are grasping the waist of the female and the feet are either gripping the substrate or the hocks of the female .Up to fourteen males visit a single female and females copulate with up to seven different males at maximum. But who will become father.The selection of successful sperms must be influenced by internal body mechanisms after copulation. The female’s mate lemur choice was not driven by any preferences and the males could not enforce copulation due to the fact that both sexes are similar in size and body weight (60 gram).(read more>>)